Post UCI: moving forward

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Antwine
  • 39th Air Base Wing command chief
Team Incirlik, what a performance! I sat in the Unit Compliance Inspection outbrief last week smiling, cheering and thinking of how proud I was of everyone's performance as the IG team leader announced the numerous "Excellent" and "Outstanding" ratings. All of the extended hours and weekend work paid off; our wing prepared as a team, performed as a team, won as a team and was recognized as a team. 

We walked away with 19 Awards of Excellence, 43 Pats on the Back, 223 Strengths, three Air Force Best Practice nominations and an overall "Excellent" rating. It just does not get much better than this. So what is next? 

Three things that come to mind instantly: 1) thank yous, 2) support the Medical Group as we prepare for our Health Service Inspection and 3) avoid the typical "Post Inspection letdown."

1) No one person or team is successful without assistance. Much of our assistance came from the U.S. Air Forces in Europe functional managers during our numerous Staff Assistance Visits. These visits ensured we were focused and working the correct issues as we prepared for the UCI. Please take a moment to thank those that assisted you or your unit to pass the UCI.

2) We are preparing for our HSI with the Medical Group in the lead. The HSI validates the MDG's accreditation to take care of the 5,000 plus family members assigned to Turkey. There are a few things we can do to support our MDG: A) Register for TRICARE online; while we have an excellent appointment and treatment system here, registering online now will truly benefit everyone as they PCS to other installations where the appointments and treatment is more difficult to obtain. B) Ensure you and your Airmen are medically fit by ensuring everyone is current on PIMR, which includes things like dental, PHAs, immunizations and other lab work. Again, this only helps us stay deployment ready while maximizing our very valued appointment availability. C) Let the team see how well we support our MDG at the inbrief, as well as, inform the team how much the MDG supports us.

3) Avoid the "Post UCI Letdown," simply defined as: resting on our laurels, blowing off steam in an uncontrolled, wreckless manner, and forgetting everything we've learned and practiced in the past concerning responsible choices. Our first Post UCI weekend resulted in a few negative actions to include an ARI at the club on May 11, a few Airmen misbehaving then running to evade our SF patrol on Saturday and finally dorm 885's second floor dayroom being vandalized by unknown individuals. We are much better than this, let's nip this negative behavior now and get back on the positive track we have enjoyed over the past five months so we can continue to ensure freedom's future.